Seabrook Station reactor shut down since Friday after water valve jams

Tuesday

Sep 18, 2012 at 3:15 AM

By JIM HADDADINjhaddadin@fosters.com

SEABROOK — The nuclear reactor at Seabrook Station has been powered down since Friday evening, when a water intake valve was jammed closed by a computer glitch, according to an announcement by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Water sank to a "low, low level" inside one of Seabrook Station's four steam generators on Friday, Sept. 14, after the valve problem occurred, according to an NRC inspector who was called to the scene. The low water level tripped an automatic shutdown of the reactor at approximately 8:25 p.m.

The NRC inspector's report indicates a computer card controlling the feedwater regulator valve failed. All other systems performed as expected after the reactor process stopped, according to the NRC inspector's report.

"One of our resident inspectors assigned to Seabrook traveled to the site Friday night to independently verify that the shutdown was being safely and effectively carried out and did not identify any concerns," NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan wrote in an email announcement Monday. A report created by the NRC inspector indicates "emergency feedwater" was "actuated" because of low water levels in the steam generator.

Al Griffith, a spokesman for the operators of Seabrook Station, Next Era Energy, said the plant was scheduled to power down on Sunday for a "refueling outage." The event on Friday led them to begin the refueling outage early, he said.